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He became an officer in 1962 and then took over the role of Captain six years later.

And Mr MacGregor said the brigade had seen some changes since he first joined.

"We've just become more modern," he said. "We're doing things that I wasn't allowed to do as a young lad as we're more adventurous now."

He said: "Nowadays, we're allowed to take the boys climbing on climbing walls and kayaking – both things we wouldn't have dreamt of doing when I was younger."

The Boys' Brigade is well known for its Duke of Edinburgh work, and Mr MacGregor said his highlight was taking various groups of boys to Buckingham Palace to collect their gold awards.

As well as the proud and emotional moments, there have been some hilarious and entertaining times too.

He said: "We've had some of our funniest moments at camp. The lads have painted my Wellingtons and put my pyjamas up on top of the flag poll."

In order to attend camp, the boys have to do a lot of fundraising. One event that Mr MacGregor instigated as a young man was selling hot peas at Nottingham's Goose Fair.

"We've done it for around 40 years now, and it's a way to raise funds for the company," he said. "We never charge the boys anything. They pay a supplement of 75p but we do all of the fundraising ourselves."

Ray White, 73, from Forest Fields, is the Company Section Officer for the brigade and has been working with Mr MacGregor for over 40 years.

"We're both church members at Mansfield Road and I'll miss him as the Captain," he said.

"We did our basic training together and we're now good friends. Luckily, he's only moving to a different section so I'll still get to see him."

Mr MacGregor is moving to the junior section where he will be a company officer.